A basic security flaw on the Virgin Mobile website has exposed customers'
personal details including their name, address, date of birth and phone
number.

It follows a similar glitch on Network Ten's Big Brother website last month,
which also exposed customers' personal information and forced the shutdown
of parts of the site.

A Virgin Mobile promotion, taken up by thousands, offered customers a free
domestic return flight on Virgin Blue if they bought a handset on a plan
from the operator.

In order to claim the flight, customers had to register their details on the
Virgin Mobile website, wait for an SMS containing a six character "free
flight SMS code" and then enter that code on the Virgin Mobile website.

The customer could then review their personal details and submit a claim
form for their free flight.

On Thu, 24 May 2007 04:11:40 GMT, James Bell wrote:
> "Anthony Horan" wrote in message
> news:bgexu084tkqd.1rj6zyf5sz0xv$.dlg@40tude.net...
>> On Wed, 23 May 2007 10:43:48 GMT, James Bell wrote:
>>
>> Oh come on, Bell, get your hand off your member and remember that your
>> beloved ****-buddy Telstra still holds the record for ridiculous breaches
>> of customer privacy.
>>
> So news shouldn't be reported unless it is biased against Telstra?

Biased? Who's biased? I think, actually, that it might be YOU, against any
company that ISN'T Telstra. Otherwise you would have posted the entire news
article rather than selectively editing it to remove the bit where Virgin
said they had hired a third party to run the promotion. That company
obviously screwed up.

The leak was nothing major and nothing particularly dangerous to the
company's customers, and was a teensy drop in the ocean compared to
Telstra's handing out of silent numbers to whoever wanted to pay.
> Pfft. Go back to Commie Land, commie.

Sounds like what Telstra does when something doesn't go it's way.
>It follows a similar glitch on Network Ten's Big Brother website last month,
>which also exposed customers' personal information and forced the shutdown
>of parts of the site.

And now BB won't tell one of it's contestants that her father has died -
Australian media has no clue and Gretel is a cow. Mooooo.

>>It follows a similar glitch on Network Ten's Big Brother website last
>>month,
>>which also exposed customers' personal information and forced the shutdown
>>of parts of the site.
>
> And now BB won't tell one of it's contestants that her father has died -
> Australian media has no clue and Gretel is a cow. Mooooo.
>

Anthony Horan said...
> Oh come on, Bell, get your hand off your member and remember that your
> beloved ****-buddy Telstra still holds the record for ridiculous breaches
> of customer privacy.

I wonder what Ding Dong Bell would say about Telstra when it allowed me
to move my wife's independant stand alone mobile phone bill over to our
house account, which was in my name. Purpose, to amalgamate both
mobiles, landline and Bigpond ISDN accounts onto the one bill.

Imagine her hitting the roof when she rang Telstra to get something
changed on her phone and they told her that only I could access this.

She tore another arsehole into the droid at the other end saying that
(a) Telstra had no right whatsoever to transfer her account to my home
account without her permission and (b) if she couldn't get access to her
phone that she'd be ripping into them with the TIO.

She ended up producing the last bill with her account details on it to
prove that it was her phone, etc. before they allowed her access. She
was hoping that they wouldn't have done so. She wanted the smallest
excuse to sick the TIO onto Telstra.

"Peelah Ben Arhna" wrote in message
news:465b7e8e.000053f2.bm002@yahoo.com.au...
> Anthony Horan said...
>
>> Oh come on, Bell, get your hand off your member and remember that your
>> beloved ****-buddy Telstra still holds the record for ridiculous breaches
>> of customer privacy.
>
> I wonder what Ding Dong Bell would say about Telstra when it allowed me
> to move my wife's independant stand alone mobile phone bill over to our
> house account, which was in my name. Purpose, to amalgamate both

Which is fine. Because you now get to pay the bills, it doesn't give you any
authority on the service, per se.

P.S. If her service is in HER name and the PSTN's in yours, she would have
received a phone call or an SBO (single bill order) form, for her to sign
> mobiles, landline and Bigpond ISDN accounts onto the one bill.
>
> Imagine her hitting the roof when she rang Telstra to get something
> changed on her phone and they told her that only I could access this.

Thats not what happened. She didnt have her password for her service
> She tore another arsehole into the droid at the other end saying that
> (a) Telstra had no right whatsoever to transfer her account to my home
> account without her permission and (b) if she couldn't get access to her

As she didnt get a phone call or an SBO, sounds like the service is in YOUR
name

Michael J said....
>> I wonder what Ding Dong Bell would say about Telstra when it allowed me
>> to move my wife's independant stand alone mobile phone bill over to our
>> house account, which was in my name. Purpose, to amalgamate both
>
> Which is fine. Because you now get to pay the bills, it doesn't give you
> any authority on the service, per se.
>
> P.S. If her service is in HER name and the PSTN's in yours, she would
> have received a phone call or an SBO (single bill order) form, for her
> to sign

That was the case. Phone was in her name. Landline account in mine.
Telstra happily moved it across to the landline account. My wife didn't
receive any correspondance from Telstra. She only became aware of the
ramifications of this when she called Telstra to have something on her
phone changed. First question was asked by the Telstra operator was if
she was me, as I was the only person with authority to have things
changed on the account. I had to call back to give her the authority to
change the account.
>> Imagine her hitting the roof when she rang Telstra to get something
>> changed on her phone and they told her that only I could access this.
>
> Thats not what happened. She didnt have her password for her service

Ah, so you were there, were you?
>
>> She tore another arsehole into the droid at the other end saying that
>> (a) Telstra had no right whatsoever to transfer her account to my home
>> account without her permission and (b) if she couldn't get access to
>> her
>
> As she didnt get a phone call or an SBO, sounds like the service is in
> YOUR name

Nope. It was in HER name. We were receiving three bills. One for the
landline, in my name. One for my mobile in my name and one for her
mobile, in HER name. All separate accounts, account numbers, etc.

When I discovered that there were discounts to be had if we bundled ALL
of our services onto the one bill, which included the landline, Bigpond
ISDN and the two mobiles, I said to her that's what I'd like to do.
Fine, she said. She just thought that her phone bill would simply end up
on the same account - NOT that ownership would be effectively transfered
to me.

That is what she was pissed off about. Especially so when the contract
on the phone expired and she decided to get new phone. She had to seek
my "permission" in order to do so as it was now in my name.

We still have the original bills from when the phone was in her name.
She's still mulling over whether to take further action on it.

--
"Today's payslip has more deductions than a Sherlock Holmes novel."

>> As she didnt get a phone call or an SBO, sounds like the service is in
>> YOUR name
>
> Nope. It was in HER name. We were receiving three bills. One for the
> landline, in my name. One for my mobile in my name and one for her
> mobile, in HER name. All separate accounts, account numbers, etc.

You can print anything on the bill. The billing name is not the same field
as the customer name.
> When I discovered that there were discounts to be had if we bundled ALL
> of our services onto the one bill, which included the landline, Bigpond
> ISDN and the two mobiles, I said to her that's what I'd like to do.
> Fine, she said. She just thought that her phone bill would simply end up
> on the same account - NOT that ownership would be effectively transfered
> to me.